The Lusophone
Africa Initiative was launched in 2004 in order to strengthen
the overall presence of Portuguese-speaking African researchers
in CODESRIA and boost their participation in the Council’s
various activities. To this end, the Council is seeking
simultaneously to reach out to and integrate this important but
marginalized section of the African social research community
into its work. This is being done in the conviction that success
in the greater integration of Portuguese-speaking African
researchers into the work of the Council would also reinforce
the institutional objective of transcending linguistic and
geographical barriers in the organization of its activities, and
help the enrichment of knowledge production on the African
continent. The Lusophone Africa Initiative has been developed to
incorporate research, research training, policy dialogue and
publications activities. And in order to ensure the full
institutional anchorage of the activities undertaken and the
relations of collaboration that were being promoted within the
Programme, memoranda of understanding (MoUs) have been signed
with INEP and the Amilcar Cabral University in Bissau, the
Amilcar Cabral Foundation in Praia, Cape Verde, Agostinho Neto
University and the Catholic University in Luanda, Angola and
others are being negotiated.
Since 2004 when
the Lusophone Africa Initiative was formally launched, a marked
increase in the participation of Portuguese-speaking African
scholars in CODESRIA activities has been registered. The point
needs to be underscored that the Lusophone Africa Initiative was
also conceived as a programme that would be open to English and
French-speaking researchers interested in comparative research
on Portuguese-speaking African countries and vice versa.
This way, the Council sought concretely to break language
barriers to scholarly exchange and collaboration in Africa. It
was also a means of investing more in the visibility of
scholarship from within Africa on the Portuguese-speaking
African countries.
Four New NWGs
Established in 2006:
-
António Guebe (Angola) :
Communauté Hanha: une analyse des aspects politiques,
socio-économiques et religieux
-
Hélder Amílcar Jauana
(Mozambique): L’action politique des mozambicains au
quotidien: le cas des municipalités de Beira et Nampula
-
Muminatu Sani (Guinée
Bissau) :Rites des groupes ethniques Peul et Balante
-
António Baptista (Cap Vert) :
Capital Social et Développement des Communautés des pécheurs
du Cap Vert
-
Gil Évora (Cap Vert) : Le model
capverdien d’intervention face au VHI/SIDA
-
In 2006, a
workshop on the Angolan Higher Education System was also
organised in Luanda, Angola,.
Four National Working Groups under this Programme, launched in
2004
